


First Position

by deltadanvers



Series: Pas De Deux [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:06:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25537060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deltadanvers/pseuds/deltadanvers
Relationships: Sam Wilson/Reader
Series: Pas De Deux [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850407
Kudos: 6





	First Position

You were pleased to finally have a chance to breathe as the last child walked at out of your studio, calling out ‘my momma’s here” and slipping through the door. Having so many kids go through the studio everyday was nerve wracking. It was beyond intimidating to be in charge of so many small children for such physical activities everyday.

Most days you had a few classes with older students, but a surprising number of little kids were going through your Pre Ballet class this semester and you’d had to adjust the number of classes you took on total to make sure your classes didn’t get too crowded. You’d thought about hiring a new instructor but it was just too much to handle any time you sat down to actually try and flesh out the duties for an ancillary instructor.

Most weeks, you had overprotective parents sitting in on classes so you could rely a little on their micromanaging gaze to make sure your dancers weren’t doing anything you were missing. Luckily, last week's email blast seemed to quell the nervous dance mom energy in everyone. You had, in your nicest, most professional tone, reminded everyone that you were in fact one of the most qualified instructors in the borough, not counting the actual Brooklyn Ballet themselves. It took some strategic placement of terms like ‘former principal dancer’ and ‘classically trained’, but you did get the message across.

Your next class started in a little under 30 minutes and that was more than enough time to check your emails, start on your lesson plan for next week, and eat a snack before you were bombarded by demons in tutus.

You were spread out on the floor with your legs contorted under you as you typed away at a response to an email about a child seeking late entry into a class that was already 6 sessions in. It was difficult to break the ‘you genuinely cannot make this work’ news to any parent but this one seemed especially persistent and you gave yourself the go ahead to put in the final word with info about registration for next semester and move on so that you didn’t waste any more time.

With only 15 minutes until class starting, you weren’t surprised to hear the door open but you took it as a cue to put your laptop away and make yourself look a little more ready to teach a class.

“Hey kiddo, I’m gonna go in the office and put this away but I’ll be back in a second.” you shouted down the hall, not bothering to see who was so early.

It only took a moment to put the computer away but you could hear gleeful screeching coming from the studio by the time you were walking back.

“There will be no fun in my studio!” you playfully shouted as you rounded the corner. You had a smile on your face as you thought through how you were going to entertain the kids until class started but you stopped dead in your tracks as you saw their current source of entertainment.

Steve Rogers.

“Oh my god” you whispered as he turned to you and you hesitated for a moment before he gave you one of his perfect smiles and you ran into his arms. He swept you into his arms and you felt a wave of indescribable relief wash over you.

It’d been months since you’d last seen the man and you couldn’t believe that he was back in your studio. His deep chuckle reverberated through his chest and you couldn’t contain your genuine glee.

“You didn’t tell us dat you know Captain Amewica!” the little boy who was clearly the kid who was previously screeching stated. Steve let you down and you turned to address Zach, the four year old with endless potential and an unbridled obsession with Iron Man.

“I hadn’t seen him in months, Zach! How would I have known that he’d come to the studio during your class!” the little boy had a goofy smile cemented on his face and clearly wasn’t giving you all of his attention as he stared at Steve and two more little girls skipped in.

Luckily, the two girls who had just come in were too exciting for Zach not to go play with so you were given a short moment with Steve.

“Did you break your phone?” you asked.

“What? No.”

“Oh so you do still have a working phone? You’ve just stopped talking to me?” you were prodding at him in jest but you were a little hurt that you’d completely lost him in your breakup.

He sighs a little and offers you a small, apologetic smile.

“You know how he is, and how things have been lately. I know you’re still in touch with Natasha; I’m sure she’s kept you up to date.”

“Yeah, I do know how he is and I’m sure that he’s the reason you’re here. I love you dearly and I am glad you’re here but you don’t exactly show up out of the blue without an agenda.” you weren’t completely focused on what Steve had to say as you really did need to keep an eye on the kids as they funneled in.

While you were more focused on the children romping around on the floor and not as much on the blonde standing next to you in the hall, you didn’t miss his sigh.

“He’s outside. He wanted me to come in and feel out the territory. If you hated me, there was a good chance you’d murder him if he came inside.” that made your heart sink.

“I never hated either of you. I was confused and upset when he first broke up with me but I knew in the long run it was better for him and saved me from any more heartbreak. Why would either of you think I hated you?”

“He took everything really hard. He was pretty out of it for a while.” you stopped him before he could continue.

“Can you just keep an eye on the kids for a minute? I’m gonna just go talk to him. It won’t take long and they’re all well behaved.” he nodded as you walked back down the hall to the door that faced the street.

You faltered at the door, not ready to face the reality on the other side of the door, but it would bring you closure. There was a certain liminal feeling to your studio. It was hard to tell that time was passing and it was beyond easy to put so much of your focus into the fluidity of your motions that you could completely block out any issues happening outside that front door.

Needing to push through, you took a deep breath and pressed on the bar on the door and took a step out. You were just wearing your tights and a sweatshirt over your leotard so the cold wind seemed to push right through you.

You jammed your hands into the pocket of your sweatshirt and stepped onto the sidewalk.

It felt like there should have been a revelation as you saw him standing there. Like your heart should’ve shattered right there or stitched back together. Maybe that moment would’ve happened if Kayla, one of the little girls in your class, hadn’t run up and clung to your legs, excited to see you. You couldn’t ignore her so you swept her into your arms and spun around, relishing the excited squeals she let out before you put her back down and ushered her in the door and turned back to face him.

“Hey you.” his voice was as calm and smooth as it had been the first day you’d met him and the last time he’d said he loved you.

You didn’t think you were on the edge of tears, but you kept quiet just in case your voice decided to betray you and you kept to a soft smile and a small wave.

“How have you been?” he tried to work towards casual small talk.

“Sam, why are you here?” There was no malice in your tone, but it felt foreign to say his name. It’d been so long since you’d last allowed yourself to say or even think his name. You hadn’t been together for that long when he’d broken things off, but even in the almost casual nature of your committed relationship, it felt like something you were in for the long haul.

It’s not always that after 11 months of commitment that you’d be willing to admit that you’d marry the person you were seeing, but with Sam it felt natural. Or it felt natural for you at least.

You should’ve seen the signs. The hesitation to define your relationship in the early stages. The hesitation to use the decided upon label in the late stages. As if he were timid about the term ‘girlfriend’ or ‘partner’. The way that sometimes, even after months of dating, it still felt like you were having to play games to be with him.

It was just red flag after red flag but at some point in your head, you’d defined red as the color of love.

“I made a mistake.”

The look on your face must have caught him off guard as you scrunched your eyebrows together and squinted at him with the admission.

“Please just hear me out. I got scared. You know I’ve had issues committing to long term relationships of any kind since I lost Riley. He was my right hand man. It still feels wrong to bring people into my life knowing that things like that happen. Now more than ever.”

He stopped to gage your reaction.

“But I know now. I know that I need you by my side. I know I played games with you but you know I can be better than that. I made so many mistakes when we were together but you know from day one I wanted to grow with you.” by now you were wringing your hands together and shifting slowly from foot to foot.

“Please just give me a chance.” he looked so hopeful.

“I- uh- I’m late for my class. I can’t do this right now, Sam. I’m not sure I can do this at all, honestly.” you shook your head as you stared down at the concrete.

“I didn’t mean to spring it on you, I just- I can wait for you.” you couldn’t bring yourself to look back at him. This was one of those times where you allowed yourself to be rude, you turned your back on him and went back in without another word.

You let the happy giggles and shouts of your class engulf you as you walked back into the studio.

“Thanks Stevie, for watching them.” you left him with a genuine smile as you delved into your class. You weren’t mad at Steve, he didn’t deserve your sour attitude nor did the kids so you pushed it to the back of your mind and set to starting the kids with their regular stretches as you heard the door close.

“Okay kiddos! Let’s circle up and start our afternoon.”

It was a simple stretch routine that allowed the kids to still have fun and hop around, but it helped them train their muscles to warm up properly and it started a good habit. First you started out with a simple hamstring stretch, having everyone cross their legs and reach down to touch their toes.

Next you had everyone sit down. Even though they wouldn’t be starting Pointe for another few years, you felt it necessary to teach them how to stretch their feet so everyone stretched their legs out toward the center of the circle and had everyone work on straightening out their feet.

Hips were next on the agenda as the transition only took them pulling their feet together in front of them. It was easy to get them excited for this stretch as one of the young girls had pointed out early on that you could call it the stinky feet stretch as everyone had to keep their back straight and put their face as close to their feet as possible in order to get properly warmed up. It always elicited a laugh from the class.

Next you had them sit up straight again and bounce their knees up and down while their feet stayed together. This was their time to be silly and act like butterflies. Sometimes you’d try to get them to talk about what kind of butterfly they were, other times you’d just let them giggle about it.

“Miss?” one of your more soft spoken students piped up.

“The nice blonde man is back and he has his friend now too.” you spun around to confirm your fears. Steve and Sam hadn’t left but were now in the hallway. You had to give it to them, they were being courteous and if it hadn’t been for the fact that your class was currently composed of nosey children, they would have made it awhile before you noticed them.

You stood up quickly and walked to the hallway, dismissing the kids to move through the basic positions while you sorted this out.

“I’m teaching a class right now. This is my job. I don’t interrupt you when you’re doing your job, why are you interrupting me while I’m doing mine?” you crossed your arms over your chest and tried not to let the delighted squeals of children undermine the frustration you were sorting out.

“I said I’d wait for you.” Sam’s voice was quieter now.

“Yeah. I thought you meant in the general ‘I’ll wait for you to make a decision’ sense, not in the douchebaggy ‘I’ll follow you everywhere’ sense.”

“I’m not trying to be creepy or a douchebag. I just need to talk to you and I know you can’t talk about it now but you’ll have time after your class is over.”

“Couldn’t you have texted me or something? Written me a letter? Left a note on my door? Anything but showing up at my business when I’m trying to work.” you were more upset now than you were when you’d been seemingly ambushed.

Both men looked remorseful but neither were moving to leave. You figured that they’d coordinated their plans beforehand. Don’t leave until you concede.

“I’m not making my decision right now. In fact, I don’t know if I’ll even make it today. I can’t give you any more than that.” you turned to go back to your class.

"Then make him work for it." you heard Steve speak up behind you and you spun around to ask what the hell that meant only to catch Sam mid 'what the fuck does that mean' gesture towards Steve. If they were officially abandoning their game plan, that meant you had the upper hand.

"Make him work for it, huh?" you quickly sorted through all your possible next moves as Sam tried to conceal a well-aimed elbow to Steve's rib cage.

"No hitting in my studio. If you're gonna work for it, you're gonna play by my rules. There are men's leotards in the supply closet. I had a few men drop out of my adult classes in the past couple years. There should be something close to the right size for you."

"Oh that's just not fair."

"As is life, Wilson. Hop to it or the door is right behind you. Your choice. You're lucky today isn't one of the days Tasha comes in to help." you began to turn back to your class and walk away from the men before you paused and turned halfway back so you could regard Steve who hadn't moved since he got Sam into this predicament. "People who don't respond to my texts after I get dumped don't have an out here. There should be plenty of leo options in the closet. Sam can help you." you gave him a wry smile and turned back to your class.


End file.
